


Dim the Lights

by bar2d2s



Category: Strange Magic (2015)
Genre: F/M, diner au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-12 07:53:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3349460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bar2d2s/pseuds/bar2d2s
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Valentine's Day is the busiest day of the year for florists.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dim the Lights

**Author's Note:**

> As the daughter of a mother that's worked for a florist shop seasonally for 20-odd years, I won't lie. Some of this dialogue is based on real conversations.

It was supposed to be  _perfect_.

Sunny'd bribed Eloise to take his night shift by promising to work her morning shift the next Saturday, getting him off work. Dawn was only going to be working until about five, which left plenty of time for them to get dinner, see a movie, and then go out dancing until they were too tired to stand up. It was their first Valentine's Day together, Dawn's first with an actual boyfriend, and he wanted everything to be unforgettable. 

Then Eloise's appendix burst in the wee hours of Saturday morning and she had to go to the hospital, so he was called in to open at seven. Without her, he'd be stuck there all the way to closing. And it wasn't like he hadn't done his share of doubles, but he'd had  _plans_.

When Dawn didn't come by around six, he barely noticed, because of the rush. Then it slowed down, and it was past seven, and there was still no sign of her. He started to  _really_  worry when calling her phone sent him straight to voicemail. And then it began to snow.

The diner finally went dead at half past nine, and he had a bit of dinner, keeping his phone inches away all the while. Just as he was about to yell to Pare to watch the front while he went to see what was up, the door opened, and in she stumbled.

"Dawn!" He yelped in surprise, hopping the counter to grab her before she fell over. "What the heck happened to you, girl?"

Tired as she was, Dawn still had the energy to bend down and kiss him on the cheek before walking over to fall into a booth.

"Chaos, calamity, catastrophe, and every other c-word that means complete and total madness." She laid back on the bench, swinging her legs until her shoes slipped off and thudded to the ground. "You should see the shop, it's in more of a tip than I am."

Oh, of course. They lived in a small town, and Fairwood Florist was the only place that sold flowers by the dozen. No wonder she was getting out so late, with all the people coming in, it would have been impossible for her to just up and leave. "Have you eaten today?" As if in answer, her stomach gurgled loudly, and she laughed.

"No, and I'm  _starving_. I think I've basically been living on chocolate-covered coffee beans since eight in the morning." Sunny clicked his tongue, picking up her shoes and putting them on the other bench.

"Stay there, I'll get you something." It wouldn't be a fancy dinner at a nice restaurant, but substance was more important than presentation right now. It was a damn crime that Dawn had had to make it through the day without a lunch break. He stuck his head into the kitchen "Hey Pare, what we got that can be out here in five minutes?"

Seconds later, Pare popped his arm out of the order window, bearing a tray with an eggburger, some onion rings, and Dawn's favorite milkshake. "I can smell hungry people a mile away, man. Thank me later." He winked, then tapped his wrist. Sunny's eyes darted to the clock. It was almost eleven. Closing time. The kitchen was already cleaned, and Pare was pulling on his coat. "I'm gonna go see Ellie, if the hospital will let me in. You kids have fun."  And then he was gone, and they were alone.

Sunny all but ran the tray over to Dawn, whose head popped up over the side of the table when she smelled the food.

"Oh my  _gosh_  is that an eggburger, though?!" She didn't eat meat much, but when she did, the girl could decimate a cow. His father had taken him aside after the first time they'd had Dawn over for dinner.

"Any girl who can eat ribs like  _that_  and still knows better than to talk with her mouth full is a keeper."

His entire family loved Dawn, and he was counting down the days until his mother started dropping hints about them getting married. Not that he needed to be prodded, Dawn was definitely the girl for him. Sunny sighed, and Dawn looked up from where she'd been licking yolk off her fingers.

"What? Do I have something on my face?"

She did, actually. Some yolk had made it onto her nose, and her chin held a couple of drips of ketchup. Sunny snorted, grabbing a napkin and wiping at the spots. "Yeah, but it's like a compliment in this business." When he was done, she made a face at him.

"You could have just  _told_  me. You're gonna spoil me. Soon, I won't even remember how to get home without you holding my hand and showing me the way." He knew she was joking with him, but he still wondered if he should back off a bit. Dawn was a lot more similar to her sister than she thought. They were both headstrong, outspoken, and fiercely independent. Then she smiled. "But I guess I can let you get away with it this time, I can barely move."

She told him stories about some of the customers she'd seen that day between bites of onion ring and sips of milkshake, and he thought his sides would split, he was laughing so hard. As they sat together, their energy returned. By the time Dawn's plate was empty, Sunny had already begun to make alternate plans involving live music and Marianne's favorite bar, where they'd taken him for his birthday last year.

"So, if you're not too tired, I heard Wild Thang is gonna be at Castle tonight." Dawn groaned, slumping back down to lay on the bench.

"I know, Marianne already told me. She's probably gonna be there with Bog. Those were their plans before it got hectic, and we had to stay late. She was practically crying after she called him, having to raincheck for later." That reminded him of something.

"Say, how come you didn't call  _me_?" He asked, and Dawn giggled. Reaching down, she pulled her phone out of her backpack, and he saw the answer right away. "Oh." The phone's screen was water-warped, with a crack down the middle.

"Yeah. Stuck it in my apron pocket, and it decided to fall into a bucket of sunflowers." She laughed again. "Guess it misunderstood which Sunny I was thinking about all day!"

They'd been dating for months, but hearing her say things like that still brought color to his face. Dawn was so open with her feelings for him, and it was one of the things he loved most about her. "So, I take it that's a no on going to Castle, then?" She shook her head.

"Let Marianne have her unromantic anti-Valentine's date with Bog and their friends. I'm fine staying right here. This is all the Valentine's Day I need." His eyebrows shot up.

"What?" Dawn sat back up, looking at him. "I mean, this is great, but if work hadn't wrecked it for both of us, I was gonna take you out to dinner, then to see that spy movie you wanted, and then we'd go to a club and- what?" Slowly, a smile had crossed her face.

"Oh my gosh, you really don't know, do you?" She started laughing, clutching her stomach, and his heart sank. "Sunny, oh my gosh. Sunny, I'm a  _florist_. My family's business is selling flowers! I can't  _stand_  Valentine's Day!" She let her statement sink in before continuing. "I haven't been able to enjoy Valentine's Day like, ever. It's the busiest day of the year, next to Mother's Day. I know exactly where everyone gets their flowers and candy and silly trinkets and stuff, because we're the main distributor." Catching her breath, Dawn stood from her side of the booth, then squeezed in next to him. 

"Marianne hated it too, even before she was all 'no romance' and stuff. The reason we were both so upset about working late today was because we both had to miss out on spending time with the people we loved."

According to the roar in his ears, someone had dropped a bomb in the diner.

They'd never said it before, even though he'd known by date one just how head over heels he was for this skinny blonde girl. But he didn't want her to feel like he was moving too fast, so he held it in. Dawn was so open and unguarded with her feelings, and even  _she'd_  never said it. But there it was.

And it was about then that she realized what she'd said, eyes going wide.

"You did mean me, right?" He teased, taking her hand and rubbing her palm with his thumb. "Because I'm pretty sure I can call Pare back, if you feel like you didn't get to see enough of him." She snorted, unheld hand sneaking out and pinching his thigh.

"Of course I meant you. You know how the song goes. You make me happy, when skies are grey." Just because she didn't like Valentine's Day didn't mean Dawn wasn't still a big romantic. "And you never know, dear, how much I love you." 

Amazingly, he didn't swallow his tongue along with all the saliva in his mouth. "Literally the only song with Dawn in it I can think of right now is the one where I tell you to go away because you're too good for me, and that part is entirely true, but I love you so much, the world would run out of words before I was done telling you."

His face went red, and so did hers, and then they were laughing between kisses.

"You had a grilled cheese for dinner." She whispered. He snorted.

"Yeah, with garlic and everything, it was so good." He whispered back, and she headbutted him.

"On Valentine's Day, you cad?" Dawn teased, swinging her long legs up to drape over his knees. "I think that calls for an apology mint milkshake."

She could have been joking, but he wasn't willing to chance it. Gathering up the tray with her empty plates on it, he wiggled out from underneath her and went to the kitchen. By the time he got back, the booth was empty, and most of the lights were off. "Dawn?"

"Over here." 

His jaw dropped.

In the four minutes it had taken him to make her milkshake, and eat a mint himself, Dawn had turned off a few of the overhead light strips, ducked into the bathroom, and changed into a light blue dress. Her face was clean of the makeup she wore to work, and her feet were still bare, having taken off her socks, but kept on her leggings. She looked...

"Beautiful." He breathed, leaving the milkshake on the counter. As he walked over to her, he heard the sudden whirring of the jukebox. She giggled as a song came on. Marley again, Turn Your Lights Down Low. Dawn held out her hand.

"You looked so disappointed, that your perfect Valentine's Day got ruined. Think this might help make it better?" He took her hand, standing on his toes to spin her around.

"You  _do_  know it's the fifteenth now, right?" Sunny asked with a grin. Dawn rolled her eyes, settling one of his hands on her waist.

"Good, then this just means I'm being romantic for the sake of romance, not because of Obligation-tine's Day." She stuck out her tongue at him, and he laughed.

He loved this woman more than anything, each and every day of the year.


End file.
